Experts urge stronger action to curb rising Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa

Public health experts have called for stronger action by governments and citizens to contain the spread of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Africa, warning that many countries on the continent risk an upsurge in the burden of these diseases.

The experts made the call at a virtual media dialogue on NTDs, which had over 60 journalists from African countries, including Nigeria, in attendance.

Maria Rebollo Polo, World Health Organization (WHO) Team Lead for the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of NTDs, Regional Office for Africa, said NTDs have continued to impose a significant human and economic burden on many communities in Africa.

Read also: NTDs hinder children’s learning, trap families in poverty – Health ministry official

“Since 2010, the number of people requiring intervention for NTDs has fallen by 695 million, including 239 million between 2020 and 2023 alone,” Polo disclosed.

She said decline of global funding particularly affected the progress in elimination of some tropical disease by some counties in the continent.

“The year 2025 is particularly noteworthy, as nine new countries obtained elimination validation, including Niger for onchocerciasis; Guinea for trypanosomiasis; Mauritania and Burundi for trachoma; and Senegal, Kenya, Egypt, and Papua New Guinea for other pathologies,” she disclosed.

She urged counties to begin integrations of their NTDs interventions into their primary healthcare system which is already being implemented by some nations in the continent.

She identified limited political visibility of NTDs in countries, donor dependency, insufficient qualified personnel, weak integration into national health systems, poor sanitation and hygiene as major challenges affecting the campaign for the elimination of NTDs in Africa.

Other public health experts who were panelists at the media conversation highlighted the need for regional, national and sub-national governments to make elimination of NTDs a priority agenda.

Nigeria has made significant progress in eliminating some neglected tropical diseases, such as guinea worm, but others still remain, including snakebite envenoming, yaws, scabies, dengue, sleeping sickness, leprosy and rabies.

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